Mailing device



v 8, 1942. w. R. WHITE 1 2,304,517

MAILING DEVICE Filed Sept. 8. 1941 Patented Dec. 8, 1942 UMTE. EilA'lES PATENT OFFICE MAILING DEVICE William R. White, Chicago, Ill.

Application September 8, 1941, Serial No. 409,940

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improvement in a mailing device of the type comprising an envelope having a window or transparent portion in the front wall thereof.

Heretofore in using window envelopes of the character noted, it has been the practice to print a part of the address of the addressee, such as the city and state, below the window of the envelope in th right lower half thereof, the remainder of the address, such as the addressees name and his street address, appearing on the enclosure which is foldable or otherwise designed to be disposed within the envelope, so that the indicia on the enclosure are visible through the window of the envelope. Alternatively, the entire address appears on the enclosure and is visible through the window of the envelope.

Use of window envelopes in the manner first referred to causes delays and errors in the postoffice since the complete address is not readily discernible at a glance. The alternative use referred to is objectionable in many instances, one of which is hereinafter more fully discussed. For example, in connection with the business of a public utility its services will be rendered at many places, and quite frequently the bill for services will be forwarded to a designated delivery address of the subscriber for services rendered at a different address. paring bills to be sent to a large number of persons, it is preferably for purposes of economy to employ an automatic addressing machine using a two line addressing plate in such instances where the subscriber is served at his mail delivery address. In the situations Where the bill is to be forwarded to a subscriber at an address other than that at which the service is rendered, a three line addressing plate is employed, the first street address being the one where the bill is to be delivered, and the second address which is immediately below the first address, being the one where the service has been rendered.

It will be obvious that the second address on bills or enclosures of the last referred type should not be visible through the transparent portion of the envelope, since it would result in confusion in the postoffice as to which of these two visible addresses the envelope is to be delivered. At present the only feasible manner of handling enclosures having two addresses thereon is to arrange the street address on the enclosure with respect to the window of the envelope so that only the first or'uppermost street address is visible. Under such circumstances the city and state of residence of the addressees mail delivery address must be inscribed upon the front face of the envelope which as previously noted is objectionable.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive mailing Now, in predevice which overcomes the above noted objections.

I propose to provide mask means inside the envelope having a portion visible through the window of the envelope, which portion is adapted to bear suitable indicia, such as the city and state of residence of an addressee, to avoid the first noted objection. The mask means is further provided with a suitable opening disposed in juxtaposition with the window of the envelope so that certain indicia, such as the addressees name and mail delivery address may be carried by a bill or other enclosure and disposed within the envelope in back of the mask means to be readily discernible through the window of the envelope. In the aforesaid instances of bills bearing two street addresses, the portion of the mask means visible through the window of the envelope covers the second or lowermost street address (which, in the case of the example previously noted, is the place where the service is rendered) so that it cannot be seen. Similarly, in instances where the service is provided at the subscribers mail delivery address, the name of the subscriber and the street address is arranged upon the enclosure in alignment with the opening in the mask, the latter bearing the city and state on theportion thereof visible through the window of the envelope.

The mask means referred to may carry advertising matter or other information and thus serve additional useful purposes.

Now in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner of constructing a mailing device in accordance with my invention, I shall disclose in connection with the accompanying drawing a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In-the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the mailing device of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic perspective view with the several elements of the mailing device of the present invention disposed in disassembled relation; and

Figure 3 is a vertical detail sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawing, I have shown a known form of envelope 4, preferably of rectangular configuration, comprising a front wall 5, a rear wall 6, and a flap 1 which extends from the upper edge of the front wall, which is adapted to be folded over the rear wall. The edges of the inner surface of flap 1 are provided with a suitable glue or other adhesive means for sealing the flap to the rear wall of the envelope in a known manner. The front'wall of the envelope is provided with a window 8, preferably comprising a transparent panel portion, in the rig-ht hand portion thereof in a position in which the usual indicia comprising an address are customarily located. The envelope 4 is made of an opaque material and the window 8 is enclosed within a border 9, preferably of a distinctive color or nature different than that of the envelope, in order to attract attention to the matter visible through the window. A mask member III comprising a fiat sheet of paper, cardboard or other suitable material, and of substantially the same dimensions as the envelope 4, is provided with an opening I I so that when the member I is inserted within the envelope the opening II will be in juxtaposition with the window 8 in the front Wall of the envelope. Upon reference to Figures 2 and 3, it will be seen that the vertical extent of the opening II in the mask member III is somewhat less than the vertical extent of the window 8 of the envelope, so that a portion of the mask member adjacent the lower edge defining the opening I I will be visible along the lower edge of window 8 of the envelope when inserted in the latter. The portion of the mask member that is visible through the window of the envelope is indicated in dot-dash lines upon the mask member in Figure 2, and bears reference character a. In the preferred embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, the portion a of the mask member is adapted to bear the city and state of the addressee.

A bill or other enclosure member I2 comprising a paper sheet folded to conform substantially to the dimensions of the envelope so that when it is disposed within the envelope it can not shift vertically or laterally therein. The front face of the bill, which is adapted to be disposed immediately in back of the mask member Ill has the name of the addressee thereon, and a first street address, which for the purposes of the present disclosure may be considered to be the mail delivery address, and a second street address immediately below the first street address which is pertinent to the subject matter of the enclosure, for example, as a bill for a utility service rendered at the latter address. The name and addresses referred to may be inscribed upon the front face of the enclosure by means of known automatic addressing machines, and this indicia are so positioned upon the enclosure I2 so that the name and the first street address on the portions of the enclosure indicated at b and 0 will be in juxtaposition to the opening I I of the mask member and hence visible through the window 8 of the envelope. The second or lowermost street address on the portion at of the bill I2 will be covered by the portion a of the mask member II] when the mask member and enclosure I2 are disposed within the envelope.

In instances where the enclosure bears only a single street address, the name and the street address are inscribed on portions 1) and 0, respectively, of the enclosure and in alignment with the opening II of the mask to be visible therethrough.

Since the envelope 4, the mask member I0, and the enclosure I2 are of all substantially the same rectangular configuration, it will be seen that there will be no relative movement of the members with respect to each other so that the neces sary mailing indicia will always be visible through the window of the envelope.

Obviously, the enclosure member I2 and the mask member ID may be of anature other than that shown in the drawing, the only limitation being that the opening II in the mask member, and the indicia bearing portion of the enclosure should be arranged with respect to each other so that when assembled the pertinent data carried by the enclosure is in alignment with the opening in the mask. The mask member II) could, for example, comprise a leaflet having an opening corresponding to the opening II in one of its outer leaves so that a bill or other enclosure could be disposed within the leaflet in back of the leaf having the opening and obtain the objects of the present invention. If desired the faces of the mask member can carry advertising or other indicia.

It will be understood that the preferred embodiment only of my invention has been disclosed and that other and various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, an envelope having a transparent portion in the front wall thereof, a mask member disposed within said envelope and having a portion visible through the transparent portion of said envelope, there being an opening in said mask member in juxtaposition with the transparent portion of said envelope, and an enclosure within said envelope a portion of which is visible through the opening in said mask and the transparent portion of said envelope.

2. In combination, an envelope having a transparent portion in the front wall thereof, a mask member disposed within said envelope, there being an opening in said mask member disposed in juxtaposition with the transparent portion of said envelope, a portion of the front face of the mask adjacent the lower edge of the transparent portion being visible through the latter, and an enclosure disposed within said envelope in back of said mask, a portion of said enclosure being visible through the opening of said mask and the transparent portion of said envelope.

3. In combination, a substantially rectangular envelope having a transparent portion in the front wall thereof, a mask member of rectangular configuration corresponding to said envelope and disposed therein, there being an opening in said mask member in juxtaposition with the transparent portion of the front wall of said envelope with a portion of said mask member adjacent the opening therein being visible through the transparent portion of said envelope, an enclosure of rectangular configuration corresponding to said envelope and disposed therein in back of said mask member, the portion of said enclosure in alignment with the opening in said mask member being visible through the transparent portion of said envelope, said envelope being adapted to retain said mask member and said enclosure against relative movement within the envelope.

4. In combination, an envelope having a window in a wall thereof, a mask member disposed within said envelope and having a portion visible through the Window of said envelope, there being an opening in said mask member in juxtaposition with the window of said envelope, and an enclosure within said envelope 2. portion of which is visible through the opening in said mask and the window of said envelope.

WILLIAM R. WHITE. 

